She Loved Her Brother
by CrazyRedQueen
Summary: A story that replaces Barron with Caul. Miss Peregrine's evil brother kidnaps the ymbrynes for immortality and the peculiar family pay the consequences. Trigger Warnings for domestic abuse, sexual assault, and rape. No deaths, thankfully. And no main ships, though EmmaxJacob and OlivexEnoch is obviously there. -ON HOLD-
1. Chapter One

**She Loved Her Brother**

 **Summary: A story about Alma's love for her older brother.**

 **A/N: Barron is replaced with Caul/ Jack.**

 **Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own MPHFPC. The books belong to Ransom Riggs and the Movie belongs to Tim Burton.**

Chapter One:

Despite what people may think, she had loved her brother. Even when they were younger and he would tear out her feathers or pinch her until she cried. She just couldn't bring herself to hate him. He was her brother, after all. That is, until the day he came to her loop, hand in the shape of some sharp weapon pressed against Abe's grandson's throat. That is the day she lost all love and respect for her elder brother.

She, Miss Avocet, and her children were rushing around the house, packing all of the necessities in each of their suitcases so they were ready to leave first thing in the morning and find a new loop.

Miss Peregrine had just closed the Twins' suitcase and stood up to think over what else they might need when a rapping sounded at the front door. She looked over at it, confused because she thought Jake wouldn't be coming back, and slowly walked over to it. She could hear the children coming down the stairs and stopping at the top. She imagined their expressions would also be just as confused as her own. As she walked towards the door, she saw Miss Avocet, out of the corner of her eye, hiding in the parlour, just in case.

She got to the door, taking her time just in case it was a Wight, and took a deep breath just before opening it. As she did, she felt like the minimal amount of food she had eaten today was going to make its way back up. There, stood in front of her, was Jake. Though apparently not of his own will, judging by the man stood behind him and the sharp object pressing against his neck.

It was like she had forgotten to speak as she stared at the man holding Jake hostage. She stared at his cocky smirk, the sharp glare of his eyes, his jet back hair matching the colour of her own. Her breathing deepened as she mustered up her hardest glare.

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" She heard, bringing her back to the harsh reality where Jake and her children were in danger, "or have you forgotten your manners?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She clenched her jaw shut as she moved aside to let them both in. He closed the door behind him as he smiled at the sight of all the Peculiars in front of him.

As much as she wanted to, she had to prevent herself from looking back at her wards to see of they were okay.

She, instead, focused on glaring at her intruder as he threatened Abe's grandson's life. She was careful not to make any wrong moves for fear that he would end his life within seconds just to make a point.

The man looked away from her, still smirking, and focussed his eyes on her children instead, calling out, "children, could you make your way downstairs, please?" She narrowed her eyes as she spoke, angrily, "nobody tells my children what to do, but me," for a moment she thought she saw shock on his face before he narrowed his eyes back at her. Turning back to her children, she calmly requested they come downstairs, to which they obeyed. She heard the man start to say something before she angrily shushed him and he, surprisingly, listened, quickly closing his mouth before settling for quietly watching the show.

When all of her children eventually reached the bottom of the stairs, she sadly explained the man's plan. Telling them he wanted her for his immortality project and he needed them to go into a lockable room (the parlour) for fear they would attack him once he let go of Jake. He also needed her to change into her bird form and enter the cage so he could take her to Blackpool.

The looks on her children's face upon hearing the plan were devastating, to say the least. She almost ordered them to attack right then and there but the thought of Jake getting hurt during the attack overpowered that idea and she, instead, said her, maybe last, goodbyes to her children.

"It has been my privilege to care for you all," she choked out as she looked over all of her children one last time, "goodbye, my children," she said, closing the doors to the parlour and turning to the man just in time to see him removing the sharp object from Jake's throat.

He lightly pushed Jake away, knowing he would like to say goodbye to her just like the other children.

She reached up her hands to hold his face, stopping just before she actually made contact with him, "promise me one thing, Jake," she started, "promise me you'll look after them," she whispered, feeling a tear run down her face. He hesitated, probably realising the weight of making such a promise he might not be able to keep, before nodding, "I promise," he told her, his voice full of confidence.

She lightly smiled whilst taking a few steps back from him so she could change into her second form, the Peregrine Falcon. Just before she changed, however, she stopped, looking at the the man watching the display, "I really did love you, Caul. No matter how badly you hurt me, no matter what you said, I loved you. But now you have threatened my children and sisters and I hate you with every fiber of my being," she finished off. Shooting daggers at 'Caul', she spread her arms and changed into a beautiful blue bird, flying around a little bit before landing in the cage.


	2. Chapter Two

**She Loved Her Brother**

 **Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own MPHFPC. The books belong to the brilliant Ransom Riggs and the movie belongs to Tim Burton.**

Chapter Two:

After Caul had, quite literally, thrown Jake into the parlour with her children and Miss Avocet, he quickly grabbed the cage she was in and rushed out of the house.

He left the loop as fast as he could, not stopping for anything. Except an old man who questioned how suspicious he was acting, running around with a caged Bird of Prey. He quickly shook off the man's suspicions, though, and informed him he needed to leave otherwise he'd miss his ferry.

Of course he wasn't even getting on a ferry, it would be stupid to get on a boat where there would be too many prying eyes. He would steal the boat he had seen by the shore many times. It would take a while but he'd soon get to Blackpool where he would start on the Immortality Project.

He carefully walked across the rocky beach of Cairnholme, sometimes accidentally shaking her cage, not that he cared. He wanted her journey to be as long and miserable as he could make it.

Eventually, he reached the small boat that sat just out of the reach of the crashing waves. He threw her cage down on the bottom of the boat, watching as she hit the bars. He chuckled as he started to push the boat into the water so he could get in and get away from the wretched island. When it was in the water and about to float away, he got in and grabbed one of the paddles. Looking behind to make sure he wasn't being pursued by the stupid children, he started pushing the boat further into the water with the paddle.

Now that he and Miss Peregrine were in deep waters, he used both the wooden objects and started rowing towards Blackpool.

oOoOoOo

With the peculiar children, things were getting rough. Not long after 'Caul' had taken their carer, they had set about making the parlour as safe as possible, and barricaded the doors and windows. They had found some tools to use as weapons, except Miss Avocet, she had Miss Peregrine's crossbow. Once they had finished making the parlour as safe as possible, some of them stood on the couch blocking the door, while the eldest stood in front of the couch to protect them.

Miss Avocet had stood in front of all of them, telling them what she need them to do. Until a Hollowgast had smashed through the window and killed her. The younger ones had screamed in terror at yet another carer being taken away from them, especially in such a situation.

The elder children, however, had immediately gone into action to protect them, and Enoch grabbed the now cast aside crossbow. It had been for nought, though, because he was grabbed by the invisible monster's disgusting tongue and almost joined Miss Avocet in the after life had it not been for Jake. The person he had once teased, the person he now had a little bit more respect for.

Jake had stood in front of his new friends and family and aimed the weapon at the monster only he could see, taking his time to get a careful aim at its featureless face. When he thought he had a clear shot, he pressed the trigger, letting the arrow fly across the room and pierce the Hollowgast in its shoulder. Disappointed, yet not surprised at his failure to shoot it in the face, he used the distraction to tell his friends to run.

They now found themselves in the attic of their home, trying to think of how they could get out. Jake, the newfound leader of this odd little group, leaned out of the window, looking over towards a tree. Getting an idea, he turned to Fiona and asked if there was anything she could do with it to help them escape. Now taking her own turn to look at the tree, she said, "yes, of course." As Fiona worked her, quite literal, magic, the others anxiously waited for her to finish.

In no time, she had convinced the tree to grow, giving them a perfect escape from their home. Jake ushered the younger ones out of the window first and told them to wait on the ledge before making their way across the large tree branch.

Once everyone but Emma was down on the ledge, they started making their way down the tree and away from the monster that resided in the house.

Emma slid down the roof, being dragged down by the weight of her lead shoes that set a wall between floating away and staying on the ground. Jake caught her when she landed on the ledge, making sure she didn't topple off of it.

When it was their turn to climb down the tree, they realised it was too late, for the bomb that was to strike that house every day for the rest of time was now soaring towards them.

Thinking fast, Jake undid Emma's lead shoes and grabbed her waist.

oOoOoOo

Over where Miss Peregrine was, things weren't that much better. She and Caul had finally arrived at Blackpool Tower.

Her brother hurriedly walked down to the basement with the cage she was in. He walked into a room where there was a large cage full of fellow Ymbrynes. They squawked with fear when they saw her brother had captured her. She could see all of the seats where the Wights would sit when the experiment started.

Instead of walking towards the cage with the other birds, Caul headed towards a door at the back of the room. Unbeknownst to her, there was a hollow guarding the door. It wasn't until the giant latch on the door was moved that she realised it was there.

Miss Peregrine heard her sisters suddenly start screeching when Caul stepped through the now open door. She turned from the perch she was on to see the frantic Ymbrynes. Her view of her sisters was suddenly blocked by a slamming door. She and her brother were then drowned in darkness until Caul reached his hand out and flipped the light switch.

Miss Peregrine blinked her eyes when her vision was invaded with white spots due to the sudden brightness. Once the spots were gone, she looked around the room. It was merely an empty room with a concrete floor, ceiling, and walls. The light Caul had turned on had hardly done anything to brighten the room, but Miss Peregrine was thankful she could at least see to the corners of the it.

She was shaken from her thoughts when the door to her cage was opened. Looking to her brother, she saw him tilt his head in a way that meant she was allowed to leave the cage. Against her better judgement, she quickly flew out of the cage and started flying in circles around the room. She was heading for light switch when something caught her. She turned her head to look behind her but saw nothing. She then realised that the Hollow from outside had come into the room, too. How she hadn't heard it or noticed it, she didn't know. But what she did know, was she was "screwed", as Jake had said before.

"Come now, sister, did you really think you could escape?" Her brother asked in a tone that almost sounded innocent, but had a sinister undertone. She stopped struggling against the Hollow when she realised that he was right. Like he always was. The Hollow roughly put her on the ground with its tongues and she ruffled her feathers and hissed at it. She didn't hear it make any movement and she thanked the Birds because she knew angering a Hollow was practically a death wish.

"Now, I'm going to need you to change into your human form, sister," Caul spoke. She merely stared at him, choosing to ignore his request. He waited patiently for her to change, but seeing she wasn't going to do so any time soon, he sighed heavily. Caul crouched down in front of his sister and smiled tightly at her, "Alma, sister, you need to change back so we can talk," he told her, as if he were speaking to a child. She slightly shook her head, telling him 'no' the only way she could.

Caul stood up straight away with another sigh. He smoothed down his shirt and with a grim smile he said, "okay. Then I suppose you don't want to hear what I have to say about your children. Because there's no doubt they're coming here, I haven't heard back from the Hollow I sent after them," Miss Peregrine immediately perked up at this, hope for her children rekindling. _My children are alive?_ She thought. She was happy for a moment, until she realised they were coming to get her. They were in danger, no doubt.

With these thoughts, she flew into the air and swiftly changed into her human form. She now stood on the floor in front of her cruel brother. She watched as he smiled at the sight of his _dear_ sister. "You've changed since the last time I saw you, Alma," he noted.

"Enough of the idle chitchat, what happened to my children?" She demanded.

"They're not your children Alma. They're just weird, little strays you've taken in off the streets."

"What's happened to them?" She asked again, deciding to ignore his insult for now.

"They killed the Hollow I sent after them. I can only imagine they're coming to 'rescue' you now," he mocked with a laugh. Miss Peregrine wiped a hand over her face at the thought of her children being hurt because they tried to save her. She only just resisted the urge to cry in front of her brother and stand straighter. She looked at the floor in shame at what she was about to do. Beg. She was going to beg Caul not to hurt her children, if that meant she had to die so they would remain unharmed, then so be it.

She looked up at Jack, "please don't hurt them, Jack. I'll do anything, I'll willingly give myself up for your immortality project, just... please don't hurt them," she begged. A single tear ran down her face as she stared at him. He stepped forward and used his thumb to wipe it away, "and why would I let them go unpunished for being my sister's little brats?" He gave a wicked smile and walked out of the room, leaving her alone to stare in shock at the door.


	3. Chapter Three

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Three:

To say Miss Peregrine's 'stay' at Blackpool Tower was torturous would be an understatement. She had been there for a mere five hours and already she had been both physically and verbally abused. Not that, that was anything unusual for Caul.

When they were children, Jack would always find her, no matter how hard she tried to hide, and make her life a living hell. He would pinch her hard enough to leave deep blue bruises and make her cry, catch her in her bird form and pluck out her feathers until there was red liquid drying up on her wings and back. He even pushed her down a flight of stairs once at the Ymbryne Academy where she broke her leg and was threatened into telling Miss Avocet that she simply fell.

It seemed, though, that now that Caul was older, he had discovered new ways of torturing his dear sister that went further than tearing out her feathers, pinching her, or pulling her hair.

Now, not long after Miss Peregrine's and Caul's last 'conversation', he came back to the dim room he had left her in with the Hollowgast. Without care, he roughly dragged her to her feet by her hair and held her in place so they were face to face. The only sign that it was painful, was the slight grunt of discomfort Miss Peregrine had let out.

Caul smiled in her face, seeing the pain in her eyes. The position he held her in brought every fresh bruise and cut to life, causing her pain.

"It seems your children are making quite the disturbance out there, sister," Caul finally spoke. Despite the fact that she was worried for her children and what might become of them if something went wrong, she found the strength to laugh in her brother's face as pride overwhelmed the fear.

Caul's face faltered from his mocking smile for a moment as it changed to anger. "You find that funny, Alma?" The fact that he was using her actual name alone rather than "sister" meant that he was angry. She swallowed when her mouth suddenly felt very dry. Caul yanked on her hair quickly and she barely stifled a cry of surprise.

"Answer me," he growled, "do you find that funny?"

"Yes," she whispered in response. Outward she may act brave and strong, but deep down she cursed her inability to stop taunting Caul and her stubbornness as it only brought more pain.

Suddenly, Caul threw her to the floor where she hit her elbow and her head on the concrete. She gasped in pain and sat up, slowly reaching up a hand to where she'd hit her forehead.

Over her stay, her hair had come loose. No longer perfectly styled, it was now limply framing her face and had some blood matted in it. She pushed it out of her vision so she could see better and watched silently as her brother stalked towards her.

He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her back to her feet, only to throw her to the ground again. He repeated this once more before he picked her up by the throat rather than her arm.

With her now pinned against the wall, Caul smiled with malice. When he let go of her, Alma stood still against the wall, watching him. Without warning, he swung at her, hitting her face and knocking her to the floor.

Blood dripped from a cut in her lip and she wiped it away whilst watching Caul walk towards the door. Relief filled her when he exited the room and closed the door. She shakily stood up and wiped off her tattered dress. The blood from her lip still wouldn't stop falling and she gave up trying to wipe it away.

As she was starting to walk back and forth to pass the time, the door Caul had exited through opened again. Her head whipped up in time to see her brother re-entering the room.

Her brother laughed at her confused expression, obviously finding it funny. "You didn't think I was gone, did you?" He mocked. She glared at him, not daring to let herself be caught off guard again. "Kneel before me, sister," he ordered. She stood still, refusing to meet his demands. "Now, Alma," there it was. The use of her name again. Swallowing, she slowly knelt down on the floor, never taking her eyes off him.

Caul walked closer to her and removed one of his hands from behind his back, revealing an object he'd been hiding from her until that moment. A belt. Her eyes widened as she moved her eyes between him and the belt.

She tried to get up and move away from him but some invisible force held her down. She'd almost forgotten the Hollowgast was in the room. It had been unusually silent.

"Please, Caul, don't do this," she begged. She had promised herself she wouldn't beg him, but here she was, on her knees, begging him to not hurt her. Caul ignored her pleading and moved around her until he was behind her.


	4. Chapter Four

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Four:

Emma ran at the bars of the cage she and the other peculiars were in, determined to get out and save Miss Peregrine. All night they'd had to listen to the tortured screams of Ymbrynes, one of them being the woman they'd come here for. It was truly heartbreaking, and made them feel useless. They had the power to stop their torment yet there they were, stuck in a cage.

When the bars didn't budge like the several other times she'd ran at them, she moved back and tried again. A clang noise echoed the cell when the bottom of her lead shoes hit the metal bars.

"Emma, stop. You're going to end up hurting yourself," Enoch spoke up from the corner of tha dank cell. Emma turned to him with a furious expression, "I can't just stop. We need to get out of here. Miss Peregrine and the other Ymbrynes are out there being tortured, and we have the chance to save them. We need to get out," she said, her voice cracking on their headmistress's name.

Most of the peculiars nodded, agreeing with her statement. Enoch stood up to meet Emma in the centre of the cell, causing all eyes to fall on him. "So what d you propose we do?" He asked, clasping his hands behind him. Emma turned to Jake who had been watching them, "first of all, are there any Hollows around?" She whispered.

oOoOoOo

Miss Peregrine lay curled up in the corner of her dim cell, sniffling every now and then. Any time the Hollow in the room with her shuffled or moved, she would tense, prepared for it to kill her any second. It made no move to even touch her, however. Miss Peregrine found herself hoping it would kill her, though. Until now, she had never wanted to die. But after Caul's recent abuse and the stinging pain in her back serving as a reminder, it was all she could think about. Death.

She placed her palm on the floor, feeling the coldness seep through her pores. She would have lay on her back to releive herself of some of the pain if it weren't so dirty.

When she swallowed, she came to the realisation she was extremely dehyrated. Maybe she would die of dehydration before Caul could kill her. She would like that. She prayed for it to happen.

No. She had to live. Her children were there and if she ever wanted to see them again, she had to get through this. She would have to endure Caul's abuse a little while longer if she wanted to see them. But what if they were already dead? What if Caul killed her before she could be reunited with them?

That's how Alma found her thoughts lately. A muddled mess of 'what if's' and wanting to die then wanting to stay alive for her children then wanting to die again. Her thoughts were going around in circles and it was becoming tiring. On one hand she wanted to live to see her children, and on the other she wanted to die and end her pain. It was selfish, she knew that, but she couldn't take it anymore.

Her cell door slammed open, making her gasp and turn around to see the silhouette if her brother in the doorway. She scrambled up as fast as she could despite the pain and stood to face him. As he walked further into the room, his disgusting, malicious grin could be seen more clearly.

"What do you want? Haven't you done enough?" She croaked out, her dry throat burning with each word. Caul chuckled as a Hollow closed the door, clouding them in darkness with only the small lightbulb above their heads as a light.

"I've brought you some food and water, sister" he informed her, bringing out some bread and a cup full of water. "Go on, take it," he ordered. She eyed it warily before taking the water. She'd at least drink that, her throat was burning but she could deal with the pain in her stomach. It was nothing compared to her back.

She drank all of the water, thankful for the soothing feeling it left in its wake, and handed the cup to Caul. He took it and offered up the bread. She shook her head, refusing to take it.

He sighed, "you're going to have to eat at some point, you know," he told her. Maybe, but she wouldn't eat now. She stared at him, not bothering to answer him.

Caul threw the bread on the floor before throwing the cup after it. The clang it caused when it hit the floor made her jump and look over to it. She moved her eyes back over to Caul when he reached out a hand and cupped her cheek. She was unsure of what to think about his gentle hand.

"You know, sister. I worry about you some times," he claimed.

"Why? You're the one hurting me," she retorted, thankful her voice sounded more firm now that she'd had a drink. "You're my sister, I always worry about you," he said, reaching a finger through a tear in her dress and stroking her bare thigh with his cold hands. Not that she was any warmer.

With speed that surprised her, she grabbed his wrist and removed it from her thigh. Caul didn't look in anyway pleased at her actions, but chose to ignore it in favour of taunting her again.

"Myron asked about you," he told her.

"Oh, really? And what did you tell him?" She growled. She had hoped that Myron would have seen sense and walked away from Caul, but apparently not. "I told him that you and your filthy children were getting what you deserve. he seemed pleased with that answer," he chuckled.

"You disgust me," she growled.

"Do I, sister?" He asked, immediately grabbing her hair and pulling her head back like he had done so many times before. "And how do you find this?" He pressed his lips against her own, causing her to let out a noise that sounded like a cry.

She tried to pull away but not only was she considerably weakened due to his 'punishment' the day before, but his hold on her hair had only tightened. She closed her eyes tightly, wishing he would stop soon.

When he finally did, she was quick to wipe her mouth with the sleeve of her dress. He only smirked at then sight. Angered and disgusted, Miss Peregrine did something that shocked them both. She slappes him across the face.

Caul held the cheek she'd just slapped whereas Alma only held her stomach in anxiety. With a growl, Caul grabbed her hair again and pulled her back in to kiss him. This time, she feebly pushed against his chest to try and get free- though it was to no avail.

Her brother moved them back and back until she was flush against the wall and he was still kissing her. Tears welled up in her eyes and she continued pushing against his chest.

Finally, Caul pulled back, allowing them both to breathe. Alma once again wipes her mouth whilst taking in deep breaths.

Caul walked back until he was a foot away from her, "I'm going to give you gift, sister- no, not that kind of gift," he reassured her upon seeing her terrified expression. "I'm going to let you see your children," he informed. Alma's face lit up with happiness and relief. She could see her children! But...

"What's the catch? What do you want from me in return?" She questioned cautiously. Caul smiled, "it's simple. I want you to lay with me," he requested, already eyeing her up and down. "You don't have to enjoy it or make much of an effort. As long as you do it, I'm satisfied," he told her.

"You're sick! I'm your sister!" She shouted.

"I'm well aware, Alma. But, if you want to see your filthy orphans, you'll do as I say. I'm the one with the power in this situation." Alma was struck with a hard decision. She wanted to see her childen so badly, but she didn't want to do _that_ with her brother.

"I'll let you think about it. I'll be back in half an hour," he said, already leaving the room.

The second the door closed, Alma fell to the floor, her body heaving with sobs. She didn't know what to do. She needed to see her children, make sure they were okay, hug them, reassure them everything would be fine. But they price she would have to pay to do that...

oOoOoOo

Half a hour later, Caul re-enterd the room containing his sister. A smug smile graced his lips, as though he already knew what his sister's decision would be.

When he entered, he saw his sister standing in the middle of the room, her eyes cast downwards and her arms hanging limply by her sides.

"Your decision?" He asked slowly, letting the moment drag on. She kept her eyes focused on the floor. "I want to see my children, so... I'll do it. But i want you to keep your end of the deal. I won't do this for nought," she said tightly.

"But of course, dear sister," Caul smirked, "and I'm glad we could come to some sort of agreement." He walked towards her.


	5. Chapter Five

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Five:

Alma lay on her side on the dirty floor of the concrete room. One hand held her stomach whilst the other was underneath her head. To say she was in pain would be an understatement. She felt as if she had been torn apart from the inside out. She had never had sex before, what with being an Ymbryne, and she was disgusted in herself to say that her first time had been with Caul- her brother.

He hadn't been the least bit gentle. She supposed he took pleasure in the fact that he could get her to do whatever he wanted if it meant seeing her children. Whilst Caul may find that exciting and thrilling, she felt sick.

Out of nowhere, a sharp pain shot through her most intimate areas and she gasped, putting a hand down there as if it would lessen the pain. When it died down on its own, she removed her hand and put it back on her stomach.

The door banged open and she jumped, scrunching her eyes when light shone through right on her. The door was then shut and she opened her eyes, looking at Caul who stood smugly in front of her. She didn't make a move to stand up or give him the time of day, she merely looked away and back at the wall she'd previously been staring at.

Caul sighed and walked forward, "oh, come now, sister. We're going to see your children," he exclaimed in a cheery voice. She finally looked up at him and with effort, she got up off the cold floor, wincing when the pain in her private area returned.

Annoyed at how slow she was being, Caul grabbed her upper arm and decided to drag her along with him. Alma yelped at the sudden movement when it brought more pain, and not just in her sensitive area.

Caul walked her out of the concrete room, passed the Ymbrynes who perked up and started squawking, and through a bunch of corridors that all looked the same. They were walking for around five minutes before they got anywhere. Alma was rapidly running out if energy the more they walked due to malnutrition, tiredness, and extreme pain.

Eventually, they arrived at a door that looked similar to the one on the room she was being held in. Though this one had words roughly scratched into the surface- 'ALMA'S BRATS' it read on the door. She grimaced at that and she prayed to whatever God's there were that Caul hadn't hurt her precious children, hadn't put them through the same treatment she'd been through.

Caul turned to her, "they're in here," he informed, as if it weren't obvious by the writing on the door. "I'm feeling generous today, sister, so I'm going to let you in by yourself. Don't forget, though, I'll be right outside." He grinned and turned to the door, unlocking it with a grey key. He then pushed the door open and shoved her inside without warning. She landed on her hands and knees and before she could get up and say something to him, he had closed the door.

With a sigh, Alma slowly got up from the floor and stood on unsteady feet that could give out any minute. Looking around at her surroundings, she noticed that unlike her room, this was another corridor, but this one held cells. The cells on either side of her were all empty, so she started the journey of walking down the corridor to find her children.

The further down the corridor she got, she started to hear voices. Quiet voices. Voice of people that were whispering. Hope grew in her heart and she tried to pick up the pace despite the burning sensation in her back and the sharp pain inside her.

Alma finally came upon the last two cells in the corridor and she stopped at the sight. Inside both cells which were opposite each other was her children. All eleven of them.

A shaky laugh escaped her lips and tears welled up in her eyes. She walked up to the closest cell which caged Emma, Enoch, Jake, Claire, Millard, and the Twins. The movement she made seemed to draw their attention and they all looked up in surprise. Wide smiles graced their faces and they all jumped up from where they sat on the floor to run to the bars of the cell.

"Miss Peregrine!" Claire cried in relief, tears in her own eyes. The Twins chittered beside her and Emma reached out a hand for Miss Peregrine to take. She gratefully took it, holding on to her ward's hand like her life depended on it. "I'm so glad you're all okay," Miss Peregrine gushed, looking down as tears threatened to spill. "The same can't be said about you," Enoch muttered, taking in the state she was in. "No, I'm afraid not, Mr O'Connor," she admitted.

"What did that monster do to you, Miss P?" Emma whispered sadly.

"That's of no consequence now, dear," she said, cupping her cheek through the bar with shaky hands. "What do you mean 'no consequence'? Look at you!" Enoch growled. Miss Peregrine looked down in shame. This was not how she wanted to look when she saw her children. Miss Peregrine let go of Emma's hand and pulled the younger children's arms away from her legs so she could see her other children in the opposite cell. She walked over slowly so as to not collapse as she felt she would.

When she got there she was greeted with the same treatment as the other children, except from Horace who stayed in the corner with a haunted look on his face as he looked at her. He must have seen what I went through in his prophetic dreams, Miss Peregrine thought.

Taking pity on him because living it was enough but seeing it in your dreams before it happened and having the kmowledge that it _would_ happen must be torturous, she knelt down in front of the bar and put a hand through for him. Horace barely even looked at her hand as he stayed curled up in the corner with the same haunted expression.

"Please, Horace... It's me. Miss Peregrine... Come back to me," she pleaded, tears finally falling as she held onto a bar with her free hand. Horace finally looked away from the other side of the cell and moved his eyes to meet hers. He uncurled himself and shuffled over to the cell to sit in front of her.

With a cry, he took hold of her hand and deperately held it to his chest for comfort. "I'm so sorry, Miss P. I- I tried to wake up, but I couldn't," he sobbed, "I saw it- I saw what Caul did to you," he admitted, some of his tears dripping onto Miss Peregrine's hand as he held it. Miss Peregrine herself suddenly felt sick and anxious, but she knew she couldn't leave Horace. Not after what he'd seen in his dream.

She put her other arm through the bar and put her hand on his cheek to wipe away his tears, "it's okay, Horace. I'm fine, see?" She tried to reassure him, but the fact that her voice betrayed her and cracked during her sentence told another story. "You're not, Miss P. And that's okay, you don't have to be strong for us. Ever," he sniffled.

"He's right, Miss P," Fiona piped up from next to Horace, "you never have to be strong for us." Miss Peregrine flashed a watery smile and removed her hand from Horace's cheek to take hold of one of Fiona's hands.

Their reunion was cut short when the door slammed open making them all jump at the unexpected noise. Miss Peregrine took her hands from Fiona and Horace, and stood up with the help of the bars. Caul entered the corridor, the door almost shutting behind him due to the force he'd opened it.

"Oh, that was brilliant," Caul laughed, clapping his hands, "so heartwarming, really," he chuckled.

"Please, Caul. Let me have a few more minutes with them," Alma asked, already knowing he was there to take her back to her own prison. "Oh, no. You've already had five minutes already," Caul grinned as he reached her. He took hold of her upper arm and started to pull her in the direction of the exit.

He had barely dragged her anywhere before he was stopped when she grabbed hold of one of the bars of her children's cell. Caul slowly turned around to the sight of his sister stubbornly holding the bar, refusing to move. "Let go of the cell, sister," Caul grit out between clenched teeth. "No," Alma said, looking him in the eye.

Caul let go of her upper arm and moved his hand to her throat, gripping it but not squeezing. "Let go of her!" Enoch yelled from his cell, along with Jake and Emma. Unfortunately Caul did no such thing, he merely stood there with his hand around Alma's throat, looking into her eyes. Much was communicated between them, though no words were spoken.

Eventually, Caul released his hold on Alma with a small push. "You can stay in here tonight, but be warned," he leaned forward and stopped by her ear. The room was silent as Caul spoke to Alma in hushed whispers until he pulled away and let out a low laugh. Alma herself looked down and waited until Caul had left before turning back to her children with a smile on her face.

Enoch shared a look with Jake, Emma, and Olive at what their headmistress had just done but neither said a word, just grateful that they could see her.


	6. Chapter Six

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Six:

The next day came unfortunately fast for Miss Peregrine and her children. The day she was allowed to spend with her wards was a blessing, but she knew that at some point Caul would be goming back for her. And with that looming over their heads...

Lucky for them, in their time together, they had come up with a semi-plan. If this didn't work, the might not have another chance to escape. Her children, bar Jake, would age forward until they died unless they were killed by the Wights or Hollows, and she would soon be killed in Caul's immortality experiment. That was a fact.

Alma lay on the floor by Emma, Enoch, and Jake's cell, fast asleep. It was the first time she'd slept since being captured. And in the company of her children, she felt the tiniest bit safer.

The eldest children in the cell (Emma, Enoch, and Jake) crouched down next to their Ymbryne, studying the woman with their eyes. With her back facing them, they had a clear vision of her back. A few tears in the back of her mourning dress allowed them to see the some of the wounds from the whipping she'd recieved from Caul.

Emma sniffled beside Jake and the American looked over to her sadly. He placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort and she gratefully put her own on top of it.

"I wonder if this is what Horace meant when he and Miss P were talking?" Enoch whispered to the others, pure anger lacing his voice. "Probably. The bastard. How could he want to do such a thing to his own sister?" Emma snarled.

"Before Caul took me hostage at the loop entrance, we talked," Jake started, "it sounded like he hated her because she could live forever. He sounded jealous."

"What else did he say?" Emma asked, looking away from the red marks on Miss Peregrine's back. "Not much. Mostly stuff about immortality and how he caught the other Ymbrynes," Jake sighed.

"I hate Caul," a voice spoke up from behind them. The three elder children looked behind them to see Claire and the Twins asleep, and next to them, a pile of clothes. It seemed Millard was the one who'd spoken. They'd almost forgotten he was naked- it was all part of their plan, though. "Me, too," all three murmured in agreement.

As Enoch had gotten up to stretch his legs after crouching for so long, the corridor door slammed open. Miss Peregrine jumped awake and looked around confused for a moment until she realised what was actually going on. She scrambled up from the floor to stand against the cell. The other children had also woken up and were now nervously looking between their headmistress and her brother.

Caul smirked mockingly as he stalked up to his sister at a torturingly slow pace. It looked like he was just enjoying the fear he instilled in the others.

When he finally reached Miss Peregrine, he reached up a hand to gently carress her cheek. She turned her head away thought it was for nought as he still had access to her face. He chuckled when she turned away, but didn't seem offended. "I missed you, dear sister. I had nothing else to do without my little plaything," he admitted with a pout.

"I am _n_ _ot_ your plaything," Alma snapped in response, regaining some of her bite. Caul's mock pout deepened before he let out a throaty laugh. "It's okay, Alma, I won't tell them what you're really like. You keep acting tough in front of your strays," he stage whispered to her. Her frows furrowed and she had the sudden urge to slap that grin off his face. Unfortunately, polite persons did not hurt others. Not in front of their children anyway.

"Come now, Alma, it's time to return to your cell," Caul declared, grabbing her upperarm. She cast a brief glance at her children, but nonetheless allowed her brother to drag her back to her room, fear welling up in her chest after the use of her name rather than 'sister'.

When the door closed shut after their headmistress and Caul, the elder children immediately looked behind them where Millard had last been. This time instead of seeing nothing, they saw a floating object. Joy overwhelmed them and bright smiles lit up on their faces. "I got them," Millard said, stating the obvious.

"He got them?" Olive asked from the other cell, overhearing them. "He got them!" Emma confirmed with a laugh. The other children cheered as loudly as they could without being overheard by Wights or Hollows.

"Now, let's get out of here and save the Ymbrynes!" Emma exclaimed, taking the object- a ring of keys- from Millard as the invisible boy put on his clothes.

oOoOoOo

Caul dragged Alma back to where her cell was, but instead of taking her back to her cell, he stopped with her in front of the Ymbrybes. Alma was slightly confused, but didn't question it. In truth, she was actually thankful she could see her sisters. Despite the fact that they couldn't do anything, it was a slight comfort to her.

Caul positioned her to face him before letting go of her arm. Alma watched Caul curiously with a hint of fear as he walked over to the door they'd just come through and opened it. She felt the want to run straight passed him and escape, but the man revealed to be stood in the doorway ruined her chances of escape. Caul welcomed the other man into the room with her and the other Ymbrynes and closed the door behind him.

The man thanked him and moved over to the Ymbrynes trapped in the cage and smiled much like the way Caul would smile at her when he left her room. She glared at the man's back, feeling protective over her sisters , yet knowing she couldn't do anything. Caul tutted, spotting her glare, "now, Alma, calm yourself. This is our guest," he informed her, coming over and placing his hand on her shoulder as if they were the closest of siblings and he had never laid a hand on her in his life.

With a low chuckle, the man that had been observing the Ymbrynes turned around to focus his attention on them. He had messy, chocolate hair that looked like it hadn't been washed or brushed in a week, and a bit of stubble dotting his chin and upper lip. He was of average height and weight with slightly tan skin and brown eyes that matched his hair. If he kept better care of his hygiene, Alma might have said he was an attractive man.

Caul gestured to the man, "this is Charles, dear sister," he introduced. The man- Charles- lifted the corner of his lip. She barely glanced at him before turning her attention back to her brother. She didn't say a word, but Caul could tell she wanted to know why she had been introduced to this man. "You see, sister, Charles here asked me if he could... 'get to know you', so to speak," he explained. Alma's heart almost stopped beating in her chest, and some of the Ymbrynes cawed at that. "Of course, I told him 'no'," he then said, squeezing her shoulder. She looked at Charles, wondering why he was there if that was the case. "Not unless he did a favour for me," he continued with a laugh, "and he did".

"You're sick," Alma snapped, repeating her words from before.

"Oh, Alma, I'm not sick," he said in a friendly way with sinister undertones. "I merely hate you," he stage-whispered, shoving her away from him. She stumbled a little, but was able to catch herself. Tears welled in her eyes, knowing she was in a hopeless situation. Her children were trapped in a cage with the threat of death looming over them, and she and her sisters were at the mercy of Caul and his immortality project.

Caul turned away with Charles to discuss in the corner. Probably exchanging tips on how to make her submit, Alma thought with disgust. Left to herself, Alma looked away from them and shuffled over to the Ymbrynes. There wasn't much she could say, really, but being near them was a comfort. She wanted to unlock the cage and set them free, but she didn't know how. It didn't look like any cage she'd ever seen and there was all this technology she'd never seen before.

Miss Stork hopped forward from the perch she'd been sitting on and stood at the bottom of the cage. Alma smiled weakly at her, hoping to lift her spirits and show the other woman, or bird, that she was fine. Miss Stork looked to the side where one example of the technology she didn't know about stood. It glowed red at the top and had more complicated buttons and options on it.

Already knowing what Miss Stork meant, being a bird herself, Miss Peregrine looked over to Caul and Charles who seemed to be having a hushed argument, and slowly moved over to the weird device thing. Being from the 1940's, Miss Peregrine hadn't the slightest idea what to do, but after reading some writing on the screen of the device, Miss Peregrine made the choice of pressing one of the green buttons. Green always meant good, whereas red meant bad. It wasn't a hard choice to make.

With a loud clicking noise, the door to the cage containing the Ymbrynes slowly swung open. Caul and Charles whipped around at the sound, and, as fast as he could, he ran over to the cage to try and close it again. Unfortunately for him, the Ymbrynes flew out of the cage at rapid speed, flew around Miss Peregrine and straight at him. He covered his face with his arms to shield himself, as did Charles when some for the Ymbrynes went for him. As soon as the attack had started, it had ended and the Ymbrynes had flown off out of the windows in the ceiling of the room.

Alma smiled proudly to herself at the fact she'd freed her sisters. A pang of hopeless built within her, though, because _she_ still had to escape and she didn't think she would be able to. As much as she didn't want them to get involved and risk their lives, she would need her children if she wanted to escape.

Alma was suddenly, rather forcefully, slammed against the cage she'd just freed the Yymbrynes from. Her eyes widened and she looked at her attacker, Caul, with fear. He'd never gotten so physically violent or looked so angry in all the time she'd known him. Which was a rather long time seeing as they're siblings. "You just had to go and mess with things, didn't you, sister?" Caul growled, wrapping a hand around her throat and squeezing slightly. "You couldn't leave things alone."

"Your quest for immortality is pointless, Caul. We're not supposed to be immortal," she argued, having to stand on her tiptoes as he held her due to the height difference. "You Ymbrynes are. It's selfish," he hissed.

"It's not selfish. Why would you want to live forever? Watching everyone you know and love grow old and die?" She asked. Caul snarled and pulled her away from the cage, grabbing a fistful of her hair as he started to drag her back towards her room.

As Caul had the door open, about to throw her in, the door to the room they were currently in slammed open. Caul spun around, pulling her with him, to see the intruders. At the entrance of the room stood her wards. More specifically, Emma, Enoch, Jake, Olive, Hugh, and Millard. The latter didn't have any clothes on, but she knew he was there. She always did.

"Let our mother go, now. Or face the consequences," Emma ordered sternly. Caul laughed at her and turned to Miss Peregrine. With one last glance, he threw her into her room and slammed the door on her, leaving him with Charles and her children.


	7. Chapter Seven

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Seven:

The second Miss Peregrine hit the floor and the door slammed shut behind her, she got straight back up and ran at it. She started pounding on the door, begging Caul to let her out, but it was no use, either he couldn't hear her or he was ignoring her.

A sick feeling started at the pit of Miss Peregrine's stomach and she rested an arm over it, trying to quell her queasiness. She took deep breaths, but ended up having to lean against the wall with her other arm as cramp-type pains started.

She could hear some sort of commotion outside, but as much as she wanted to continue begging to be let out, she was finding it hard to breathe. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she knew that wouldn't be happening as she hadn't eaten a single thing since her arrival.

She found herself slowly lowering to the floor in pain when the cramp feelings got worse. She removed her hand from the wall and placed it on the ground in front of her, moaning in pain. With one final moan, she closed her eyes and slumped to the floor.

oOoOoOo

On the other side of the door, things were tense. Now that Caul no longer had Alma hostage in his hands, the children weren't sure what to do. Did they kill him and Charles? Did they try and keep them hostage and then free Miss Peregrine and ask her what to do?

Jake started at some movement on the other side of the room. He looked over and noticed a giant hollow looming above them all. He hadn't noticed it before as he'd been so focused on Caul and Charles, but now that he had seen it, he turned to Enoch. "Pass the crossbow," he ordered. Enoch raised an eyebrow at being ordered around, but gave him the weapon nonetheless. Jake wasn't going to kill the hollow straight away, but he needed to be prepared as he was the only one who could see the invisible monsters.

Caul, who had noticed the exchange of the weapon, grinned, "what are you going to do?" He laughed, "shoot me?" Jake didn't reply. He couldn't lie about the fact that he felt an almost irresistable urge to shoot this awful man in the face with the crossbow.

Caul sighed when neither of them said a word. "Well, seeing as you're all going to just stand there," he started, "allow me to introduce to you a close friend of mine." Charles stepped forward with his hands shoved in his trouser pockets. "This is Charles Stone," Caul informed them, "he played a big part in this experiment and he has stood by me for years. Never once has he doubted me or my abilities." Caul then placed a hand on Charles' shoulder in a brotherly way. "I even gave him permission to get to know my sister better, if you know what I mean. But, alas, you brats had to come in and ruin that for poor Charles."

Before Enoch could step forward and punch this man in the face like he deserved, Emma spoke up again, "you bastard! She's your sister, how could you?!" With that said, she used her peculiarity and blew a strong gust of wind at him, making him fly back against the door where Miss Peregrine was. Emma didn't cease her attack on Caul, making Charles curse under his breath and run to pick up a thin, metal pole off the floor. As he grabbed it, he wad attacked by a swarm of angry bees that had been released from Hugh's stomach.

Charles swatted at the bees in a panic and yelled when they stung him in return. Every bee that stung him soon dropped to the floor dead. Hugh recalled his remaining bees when Charles had been stung enough and was slowly freezing on the spot.

"Shoot him, Jake," Olive ordered the American. Coming back to the present, Jake made a split second decision whether to shoot Caul or the hollow with his remaining arrow. He aimed the crossbow and pulled the trigger, shooting the final arrow into Caul's shin. The man groaned in pain, but didn't do anything other than that. If they had been friends, Jake might have praised the man on his ability to hold his pain in. Now that Caul was subdued in a way, Emma stopped blowing air at him and took deep breaths to regain some of the lost oxygen.

Caul fell to the floor and grunted when he knocked the arrow protuding from his leg. Finding his chance, Enoch barged passed the others and into the room. He strode over to the man on the floor trying to remove the arrow from his leg. With barely contained anger, Enoch reached down and pulled Caul up by the lapels of his blazer. Caul grabbed Enoch's wrists and tried to remove his hands from his clothing, but Enoch merely kicked the same shin he'd been shot in.

With strength unlike his own, he threw Caul to the floor, watching in satisfaction as he hit the cage he'd trapped the birds in. He quickly grabbed Caul again, but didn't drag him up this time, "how dare you hurt Miss Peregrine and the other ymbrynes?" Enoch questioned, though he didn't want an answer. Before Enoch could do anymore damage to Caul, Olive rushed over to him and pulled him away from the man. "Enoch, stop. Don't stoop to his level," Olive said, moving away from Caul with him. Enoch breathed heavily with anger still, but complied.

This time, the rest of the children entered the room to stand around Caul. Millard had brushed passed the other children with the ring of keys in his hand. He had to find the right one and free Miss Peregrine.

"What do we do with him?" Hugh asked, peering down at Caul who was still frantically trying to remove the arrow so he could get out of there. "Why don't we tie him up and wait for Miss Peregrine?" Emma suggested.

"Do you have any rope?" Enoch asked sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. Emma glared at him, "we can find some," she pointed out.

"I think it's a good idea," Jake agreed, "Miss Peregrine will know what to do, we just need to keep him contained until we can get her out of there."

"She's been awfully quiet," Olive noted, referring to their headmistress. "What if she's dead?" Hugh asked fearfully. That caused all of the others, bar Enoch, to blanch. Caul merely laughed at them, making Enoch almost kick him in the stomach. "She's not dead," Enoch denied.

"I don't know," Millard spoke up. At Hugh's fearful question, he'd stopped to look through the keyhole to see if he could see Miss Peregrine. Luckily, he had a perfect view of her, but he was dismayed to see her curled up on the floor. She looked to be barely breathing. "I can see her, she's on the floor," he informed them. The others looked over to the floating keys then back at each other.

Enoch walked over and shoved the invisible boy out of the way, "let me have a look." He said, taking on the role of the leader. He bent down and peered through the keyhole. Through it, he could see what Millard had been talking about. Miss Peregrine lay in a fetal position on the dirty floor of the room. The room was hardly lit up by the bulb above her, making it hard to determine whether or not she was breathing.

Enoch took a moment to watch her careful, to see if she was breathing. It took a few seconds, but eventually he saw her take a deep breath. He came to the conclusion that she was thankfully alive, but was unconscious.

He stepped away from the keyhole and turned to face the others, "she's alive," he informed them, watching as the let out breaths of relief, "but she's unconscious." They frowned at that, thinking back to when Caul had thrown her in there merely ten minutes ago. She'd been awake then, what happened? They wondered.

"Okay, someone needs to find a rope or electrical wire, or something," Jake decided. "I think, Enoch and Olive, you two should go find some. We might need Emma and Hugh to keep Caul under wraps. And Millard is trying find the key to free Miss Peregrine," he explained quickly upon seeing Enoch's expression. Olive took Enoch's hand and led him out of the room, talking about asking the other kids if they'd seen any.

Meanwhile, Millard was halfway through the ring of keys. He sighed in annoyance when he chose another key and put it in the keyhole. He tried to turn it both ways, but had no luck. He breathed through his nose when he chose the key next to it and had the same result. At this point, he was on the verge of turning to Caul and beating him up until he told him which key unlocked the door.

Of course, before he could do so, he heard a click. He looked down to see he'd absentmindedly chose another key and unlocked the door. He smiled triumphantly and turned to the other three, "I did it! The door's unlocked," he told them in relief. The three looked up with smiles of their own, but Emma's quickly fell. "Jake, you'll need to go in there and get Miss Peregrine," she said to Jake.

"Why me?" Jake asked in disbelief. Not that he had a problem with it, he was just confused. "Me and Hugh have to watch Caul, and I don't think Millard can lift her," Emma explained.

"And you think I can?" He questioned, looking down at himself. "She's not that heavy! She barely eats anything," Emma said, sounding a little offended. "I didn't mean any offense!" Jake backtracked, "I'll go get her now." He mumbled, not wanting to dig himself into a deeper hole.

He moved around Emma and walked over to the still-closed door. Without hesitation, he opened the door and stepped him. He stopped short, however, upon seeing another hollow stood tall in the corner of the dimly lit room. Jake was unsure whether or not to continue into the room, but when the hollow makes no move to attack him, he tentatively heads over to Miss Peregrine.

Seeing the hollow still hadn't moved, he turns Miss Peregrine over onto her back and puts one arm under her knees, then one behind her back. When he picked up her, he realised Emma was right- she wasn't heavy at all. With one last glance at the hollow in the corner, he backed out of the room without taking his eyes off of it. Just to be sure, he closed the door and locked it with the key that was still in the door.

With amazing timing, Enoch and Olive walked back into the room with both rope and the other children. As Jake passed Miss Peregrine to Enoch, Olive gave the rope to Bronwyn so the girl could subdue and tie up Caul.

They all waited in silence as Bronwyn tied up a struggling Caul. Soon enough, Caul's hands were tied tightly behind his back, but not so tightly that he would loose circulation. Bronwyn stepped back from Caul and stood next to Fiona who was glaring at the man like the others.

"What do we do now?" Horace questioned, feeling slightly nervous. "I think we should take him back to the ship and wait until Miss P wakes up," Emma replied, though she wanted nothing more than to stamp on Caul's head with her lead shoes. "Alright. But we should hurry, the loop will be closing soon," Jake pointed out.

"You're right, let's go," she replied. Bronwyn picked up Caul and slung him over her shoulders like she had done with with Jake when they first met.


	8. Chapter Eight

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Eight:

Miss Peregrine awake sharply wih a gasp, her eyes flying open like she'd been startled. She looked around at her surroundings confused for a moment as she tried to steady her heavy breathing. She looked to be on a ship. The slow rocking of the small room she was in and the crashing waves outside gave that much away. But why was she on a ship? And where were her children? Had Caul chosen to find another place to start his experiment?

Slowly, she got up from the makeshift bed she was on and turned to see the ship's wheel behind her. She hobbled over to the wheel, a pain shooting up her leg with every step, and looked out of the window in front of the wheel. There wasn't the slightest bit of land in sight. They must be in deep waters.

Deciding to go see who else was on board, she moved away from the ship's wheel and walked out through the door of the cockpit, and came out onto the deck. Previously her heart had been hammering in her chest in the fear that she'd meet Caul out on the deck or somewhere else on the deck, but she was heavily relieved when instead of her evil brother, she was met with the sight of her children. All eleven of them, thank the birds.

It seemed her children hadn't noticed her appearance so she made her presence known. "Children," she called out. Their beautiful faces all turned to look at her and smiles lit up on their faces like Christmas had come early. "Miss Peregrine!" Most of them cried and she was suddenly embraced by them. She ignored the pain shooting from her back and many other places on her body in favour of smiling at the displays of affection.

They all reluctantly let go minutes later to give her some space. Secretly, she was relieved. Now that she had no children clinging onto her, her pain lessened to a dull ache. Not that she didn't love her children and didn't want to hug them, of course she did. She was just in almost unbearable pain.

"Children, why are we on a ship? What happened with Caul and the experiment?" She asked, lowering her voice at the last question. Emma took it upon herself to answer their headmistress as the others looked uncomfortably at each other, "well, when we first arrived at Blackpool, we defeated most of the wights and hollows before getting captured by Caul," she started off, "then, like we planned, Millard stole the keys and when Caul locked you in that room, Hugh paralysed Charles with his bees. Then we subdued Caul because we were unsure what you wanted to do with him. He's in one of the bedrooms."

"While I'm not a fan of you putting yourselves in danger for myself and the other ymbrynes, I am very proud of you all," Miss Peregrine said with a smile. The others returned the gesture and hugged her again, bar Enoch, Jake, Emma, and Olive. As much as she tried to, she couldn't hold back a wince which didn't go unnoticed by the oldest children.

"Okay, that's enough," Enoch said, making the others let go of Miss Peregrine. She silently thanked him with her eyes, which he thankfully picked up on. "So, what are we gonna do about your brother?" Enoch asked her in his thick accent laced with disdain. "First of all, I want to start by saying he is _not_ my brother. Not anymore. Second of all, I think it would be wise to send him to the Ymbryne Council and let him be sent to a punishment loop for the rest of his days," she decided. The children readily agreed, enjoying the idea of Caul being sent to a punishment loop.

"Until then... I should like to see him," she said, "where is he?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Miss," Horace put in, "not after what he did to you."

"I know what he did to me, Horace," Miss Peregrine sighed, "but it's not up for debate. I want to speak to him."

"Okay, but me and Bronwyn will be outside the door. Just in case something happens," Enoch told her in a tone that suggested he wouldn't hear otherwise. "Very well, Mr O'Connor. But if I find out you've been listening in, we shall have to talk about your manners again," she joked, knowing how much Enoch hated being lectured. Of course, listening in is exactly what he was going to do. He just hoped Bronwyn wouldn't make too much ruckus when she realised he was going against direct orders from Miss Peregrine herself.

"Follow us then, Miss P," Bronwyn said cheerfully, taking Miss Peregrine's hand. Miss Peregrine smiled down at her and allowed herself to be led down to the floor below the deck where most of the quarters were.

As soon as the three were gone, Olive turned to Horace, "Horace, what exactly did Caul do to Miss P that has you so worked up?" She asked. Horace looked up at Olive and shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like to remember what he'd seen in his dream. It had been the worst nightmare he'd ever had, and it wasn't just a dream. It was prophetic. It actually happened.

The other children looked at him, waiting for an answer to Olive's question. "Well, you know how Caul let Miss P come and see us?" They nodded. "Um, she made a sort of 'deal' with Caul to be able to see us. She didn't want to do it, but Caul gave her no choice. He knew how much she wanted to see us and she would do anything, and he took advantage of that. He made her do things and in return, he let her see us," by now Horace had tears in his eyes which he refused to let fall. As stubborn as his headmistress.

Jake had looked down, already knowing what Horace was talking about. He supposed the other children didn't hear much about it when they lived in the loop, but in 2016, he always heard about it. It was usually the women that had felt brave enough to walk home at night, or the girl who went to a party and trusted the wrong people. Sometimes he would read online about a man or a boy who had experienced some form of sexual abuse.

He quietly cleared his throat, "Horace," he said, drawing the boy's attention, "are you trying to say that Caul made Miss Peregrine, um, have sex with him so she could see us?" He asked. He felt a little awkward saying it because not only was he talking about his new-found second mother, but he was also in front of a bunch of children. Horace nodded frantically, thanking the bird's someone had caught onto what he meant.

With the confirmation, Jake put his head in his hands and willed away the lump growing in his throat. From beside him, he could hear Emma gasp and Olive said something he couldn't quite distinguish over his heavy vreathibg. The others stayed silent but he guessed all of them, except Hugh, Fiona, and Millard, didn't even know what sex was. Let alone what it meant to be forced into such an act.

When he drew his hands away from his face after calming himself down sufficiently enough, he was met with the sight of Olive stood by the edge of the ship, staring out at the masses of blue and white, and Emma silently seething next to him. He couldn't see Millard's face, but he was sure the invisible boy would look something like Emma right now. Hugh and Fiona looked sad and disgusted whilst the younger children were oblivious to why the elder children were reacting the way they were.

"I'm gonna kill him," Emma finally whispered and Jake was surprised at the tone she'd managed to achieve. He turned to her and hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder, unsure if she wanted the comfort. She allowed the gesture so he spoke, "you can't kill him. Not yet, at least. Miss Peregrine is talking to him and I don't think she'd appreciate it if you barged in and started killing him."

"How can she want to talk to him after what he did?" Emma questioned quietly, silent tears falling down her pale cheeks. "I don't know. Only Miss P has the answer to that," Jake said. Emma turned and wrapped her arms around Jake's waist, burying her face in his neck.

"What happened to Miss Peregrine?" One of the younger children asked. Jake turned around and saw the only younger one, excusing the Twins, was Claire. It was obviously her who had spoken. Jake looked to the others and waited for one of them to say something. He didn't really think he was the one who should be answering them.

* * *

Enoch paced back and forth down the corridor. Bronwyn was leaning against the wall watching him with boredom. He'd been doing it since Miss Peregrine had been let into the room to talk with Caul.

Eventually, Enoch ground to a stop in front of the door. He'd previously talked himself out of eavesdroppimg, but now his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he couldn't help himself.

He stepped up to the corroding wooden door and pressed the side of his face up against it so he could hear what was going on inside the room. "What are you doing, Enoch?" Bronwyn asked with worry. "Miss P told you not to listen in," she whispered. He waved her off and continued listening in. It was silent at the moment, but he could hear he occasional shuffle of feet. Seeing as Caul was tied up, he guessed it was Miss Peregrine.

Bronwyn had moved away to stand anxiously by the wall again, leaving him to it. If Miss Peregrine came out at any moment, she didn't want to be the one getting in trouble.

Enoch held his breath for a second, trying to hear any kind of conversation. Finally, he heard talking. A voice he recognised as Miss Peregrine's, not Caul's, spoke up. She started off by telling him they were sending him to the Ymbryne Council to be dealt with accordingly. Caul didn't say anything to that so she continued.

"There is one other thing I'd like to talk to you about before I leave," she said.

"And what's that, dear sister?" Caul finally responded. There was silence again for another second, and then Miss Peregrine responded, "I just wanted to ask you 'why?'," she said, "why did you do the things you did? Why have you always hated me?" He was sure her voice cracked at the end, but he couldn't be sure because the distant crashing of waves was already making it hard to hear her.

"Why wouldn't I hate you?" Caul asked, as if he didn't need to explain it to her. "All my life, you've got everything I've ever wanted. Immortality, popularity. While you were being taught by the ymbrynes how to turn into bird and how to create a loop, I sat back in the sidelines. Always ignored, always forgotten about," he growled.

"That's not true, Caul, and you know it," Miss Peregrine denied. "No one ever ignored or forgot you. You were just too wrapped up in your expermient to bother with anyone other than Myron and the people who wanted immortality as much as you did," she said. It sounded like Caul scoffed, but, again, Enoch couldn't be sure.

Something creaked and Enoch assumed she must be sitting down on the bed. "Now, as for my other question. Why did you do the things you did? To me," she added as an after thought. There was a laugh, and then Caul answered, "again, why not? It was fun to watch you squirm and cry. Beg for me to stop..." he laughed. Enoch's jaw clenched and he gripped the door frame with surprising strength. "Oh, how you cried like a bird," he laughed loudly then and before Enoch could barge into the room and beat this man senseless, there was the sound of flesh connecting flesh, and seconds later glass smashing.

Bronwyn barged passed him and flung the door open. Both of them expected to be met with sight of a free Caul and an injured Miss Peregrine in his grasp. But what met them instead was Caul still tied to his chair with a now bloody head and Miss Peregrine stood in front of him with a broken oil lamp. The lamp had already been broken when they'd recovered the ship due to it having been underwater for who knows how long, but now, the glass was shattered and a piece of it was imbedded in Caul's temple.

Unfortunately for them, Caul hadn't been rendered unconscious by the blow and was now laughing in their face. "I knew you had it in you, sister," he claimed, "if only you'd have joined my cause. We could have been the most powerful peculiars to walk this Earth!" Enoch and Bronwyn looked to their headmistress to gauge her reaction, but she merely stared blankly at Caul.

A secondlater, she placed the lamp back on the side and smoothed her tattered dress- no one had dared dress her for fear of what they might find. "Forgive me, I don't know what came over me," she told the three of them. She didn't want to apologise to the man in front of her, but her sudden outburst had shocked even her.

"Come on, children, let's go," Miss Peregrine said to Enoch and Bronwyn, ushering them out of the room and leaving Caul behind to laugh like a madman.

* * *

The three walked back up to the deck with Bronwyn not saying anything and Enoch trying to reassure Miss Peregrine that Caul had deserved it. He left out the fact that he'd been listening in, but he was sure she already knew he was, though she didn't mention it.

They walked out onto the deck to met with the sight of the other children doing their own thing. Claire and the Twins were playing with some old fishing net they'd found somewhere, Emma and Jacob were sat solemnly in the corner, Olive was looking out at sea by herself, and Hugh, Millard, Horace, and Fiona were nowhere to be seen. They were presumably in the cockpit.

Enoch walked over to Olive to see what was wrong whilst Bronwyn ran over to Claire and the Twins to join them in whatever they were doing with the net. With a quick glance at the younger children to make sure they were safe with the net, Miss Peregrine hobbled over to Emma and Jake.

The two noticed Miss Peregrine coming over and Emma immediately stood up. She moved over to Miss P as quick as she could with her lead shoes and enveloped her in a hug. Miss Peregrine readily hugged her back though she was surprised by the quick display of affection. She laughed softly as she hesitantly pushed Emma away, "what's all this about, Emma?"

"I'm just so happy you're alright," Emma told her, a sad smile making itself known on her face. "Well, of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" Miss Peregrine asked. It was now Jake's turn to stand up and approach Miss Peregrine. Emma turned to look at him then back at Miss P. "I'm sorry, Miss... Horace told us what Caul did to you," Emma admitted. Miss Peregrine swallowed when her throat suddenly felt very dry. She wasn't exactly pleased that Horace knew, but that couldn't be helped. But the fact that the others now knew made her feel sick. She was supposed to be their protector, someone they looked up to and knew they could rely on, yet now they would only pity her and try and protect her when it should be the other way around.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, trying to play defiant. Of course they wouldn't believe her, but it was worth a try. "Come on, Miss Peregrine, we know it happened," Jake said softly, "why would Horace lie ahout something like that?" Miss Peregrine looked down, willing the tears away, but they stubbornly dripped down her cheeks, leaving glistening wet lines in the sunlight. "I'm sorry, Miss P, we didn't mean to upset you," Emma quickly apologised, rushing to hug Miss Peregrine again. The latter rested her head on Emma's as she allowed her ward to embrace her. "It's okay, now, though. Soon we'll be at the Ymbryne Council and Caul will be sent to a punishment loop," reassured Emma, pulling away but not removing her hands from Miss Peregrine's upper arms. Miss Peregrine gave a weak smile and nodded. "Thank you," she said and pressed a quick kiss to the top of the blonde's head before wiping away her tears and leaving to check on the others.

Emma turned to Jake when Miss Peregrine was occupied with detangling one of the Twins from the net, "I think she needs to talk about what happened. It's not good for her to keep it all bottled up."

"You try getting her to talk about her feelings," Jake joked lightly. He'd only known the peculiar family for a short time, but he knew the headmistress was as stubborn as a bull. Emma glared at him before a irresistible smile graced her features. "We just need to let her know she's not alone and though we may not understand, we can help her," she said, becoming serious again.

"We'll need to keep an eye on her," Jake told Emma, "stuff like this happens a lot in 2016, and the result of such traumatic events can make the victim a different person entirely. Some people never talk about it and the result of keeping a secret like that breaks them," he said sadly. He wished Miss Peregrine would never end up like that, he hoped she would still be the same person he'd first met. "Miss Peregrine is stronger than that," said Emma determinedly, "she'll get through this, we'll help her."

With that, the two teens went over to help Miss Peregrine untangle the Twin who kept squirming and further tangling himself.

* * *

 **A/N: I couldn't seem to find a suitable place to end this, but I think this chapter turned out well. I especially liked writing the part where Miss Peregrine hit Caul with the oil lamp in a moment of brief anger. I think, though she tries to keep her emotions in, even she has her moments, and I added that into this story.**

 **I'm currently reading Map of Days and so far it's amazing. I'd like to thank Ransom Riggs for blessing us with another book.**


	9. Chapter Nine

**She Loved Her Brother**

 **A/N: I've dug myself into a massive plothole so instead of the peculiars going to the Ymbryne Council, this will happen. And by 'this', I mean what's going to happen in this chapter... I hope you enjoy.**

 **Another thing to note, is that the peculiars sailed around for a while so they could rest and regain their energy before going to the YC- that's why they've been on the boat for so long and haven't gotten anywhere.**

 **Side note- if I had a dollar for every time I accidenally typed 'Oeregrine' instead of 'Peregrine', I'd be a millionaire.**

Chapter Nine:

Miss Peregrine walked up to the bow of the ship and put her hands on the railing. She kept thinking about how wonderful it would be to just turn into a bird right now and fly up into the sky whilst her children sailed on the ship below her. Of course, she couldn't. She was still injured and trying to turn into her bird form was too dangerous- it'd make things worse. It was like trying to change back into her human form if she'd gotten hurt whilst in bird form- completely impossible.

A stinging pain ran up her arm and she winced. Taking her hands off the railings, she turned her attention to her right arm- the one that was stinging. She pulled back the long, blue sleeve of her dress to reveal a medium length cut on her forearm. She frowned when she noticed it looked infected. The outside of the cut was bright red and the cut itself had slight flickers of yellow. Disgusted, she pulled her sleave back down and walked away from the bow.

She would need to clean the wound as soon as possible otherwise she would get sick. She couldn't leave her children to look after themselves for her own selfish behaviour of not looking after herself. _Maybe I could ask Enoch to help me_ , she thought idly. _No,_ she then corrected herself, _I shouldn't involve any of the children._ Whilst she's at it, she should check her other wounds to make sure they're not infected. Especially her back wounds- the pain in her back seemed to be getting worse, not better. She'd need a first aid kit, seeing as everything on the ship was out of date or unsafe to use. With that train of thought, she headed over to Emma, Enoch, Jake, and Olive.

Her children looked up at her sudden appearance, and they smiled brightly in spite of everything they'd been through. "Good evening, children," she greeted with a grin. They all said their own hello's and asked if she was alright. "I'm quite well, thank you," she said. "I was merely thinking we should stop off somewhere before going to the Ymbryne Council. We'll need to get some food and fresh clothes, etcetera." At the last point, her children's eyes gave her a once over, taking in her ragged appearance. Her dress was still torn and dirty, and she'd tried to put her hair up into a messy bun, but failed miserably. "You're right, we could all use some new clothes," Emma said, hinting at her headmistress' attire. Miss Peregrine smiled and walked off, making her way towards the cockpit to tell the others the plan.

oOoOoOo

No more than three hours later, the group of peculiars had docked their ghostly-looking ship at a small town in Wales called Aberystwyth. As it was now night, they all decided to go to bed and then explore the town the next day. Emma, Olive, Claire, Fiona, and Bronwyn shared a room, whilst Hugh, Horace, and the Twins shared one. Enoch, Millard, and Jake shared another. The children had practically forced Miss Peregrine to sleep in the Captain's quarters as she was the adult and the one in charge.

At some time around midnight, Miss Pergrine had fallen asleep after at least an hour of tossing and turning and her loud thoughts preventing her from sleeping.

oOoOoOo

Miss Peregrine's eyes flew open at the sound of a noise. Now that she was awake, she was sure she hadn't heard anything, so she slowly closed her eyes and turned over as she could see it was still dark outside. She'd almost fallen asleep when she heard another noise. This time, it sounded closer so she opened her eyes again and sat up. She waited for no more than a minute before the noise sounded again- it was like a clanging noise.

Confused and a little wary, Miss Peregrine shoved the sheets off her body and stood up from the king sized bed. She lit a match and used it to light the oil lamp she'd found tossed to the floor after her children had restored the ship. After putting out the match, she grabbed the lamp and a rusty knife found in one of the draws, and left the Captain's quarters. On her journey, she hid the knife up her sleeve just in case it was one of her wards. It wasn't the safest thing to do, but she didn't want to scare her children.

She walked down the corridors until she came to wall and a turn. She followed the turn left and continued walking. So far, she was sure it wasn't any of her children making noise as she'd already passed all but one if the rooms they were staying in. The last one was just up ahead and the door was closed.

Miss Peregrine gasped. She hadn't reached the end of the hall when there was someone's hand on her arm. It definitely wasn't feminine, and it definitely wasn't a child's or teenager's. She looked to her left to see the hand gripping her upper arm. She didn't even need to ask before the person came into view.

"How did you escape? You were tied with rope," Miss Peregrine simply said. Caul laughed as if it were obvious, "sister, you smashed a lamp over my head. You should have cleaned up your mess," he said. Miss Peregrine clenched her jaw. He was right- she should have been more careful, how could she have been so foolish?

"Anyway," he continued, "I think my escape had the perfect timing, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, lowering her lamp. "Well, we're no longer at sea," Caul pointed it, "which means I have the perfect chance for escape. And you're coming with me."

"I'll be doing no such thing," she frowned, hearing another noise that didn't come from Caul or herself. "I don't think you understand, sister. Your brats are asleep, which means it's just you and me. You don't stand a chance," Caul laughed quietly. Obviously he didn't know about her hidden weapon, then. "You're right," she said, indulging him. "So, what's your plan? If I come with you."

"There's a whole world out there, sister. I don't need to be immortal, if I have you," he stepped closer to her, lifting a hand and stroking her cheek. A movement caught her attention, but she kept her eyes on her brother. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"You're an ymbryne, sister. You can create loops and live the same day over, and over again."

"You hated living in a loop," she pointed out, referring to their time with Miss Avocet when they were younger. From the corner of her eye, she could see someone else walking closer. Again, she kept her eyes on Caul. "Maybe, but who would like to live in all women company? Weak women," he hissed. "But not you, sister. No, you're the 'most powerful ymbryne', aren't you?"

"You know I don't like that title," she said quietly. Caul stepped back from her with a small smirk and she watched him cautiously. He took another step back and turned around. She swallowed, in front of both him and her were her wards- the Twins. They stood curiously in their white clown-esque outfits, watching the two of them quietly- not even a chitter escaping their mouths.

Miss Peregrine walked up so she stood next to Caul and had a better view of her children, "Twins, go back to bed now," she said softly, quickly switching from the harsh voice she'd been using with Caul. The Twins chittered and shook their heads simultaneously, telling her _no_. "This isn't up for debate, go back to bed," she told them sternly. Again, she was defied. They merely stood there and looked between both her and Caul.

Caul breathed through his nose heavily, knowing if the children didn't leave, things wouldn't go his way. He strode towards the children, "do as my sister says and go back to bed, you brats," he growled, standing in front of them. The Twins hissed threateningly at him, taking a minor step away. "Don't talk to my children like that," Miss Peregrine warned him, repeating herself from the night Caul had first shown up. "Or what?" Caul said in return. Miss Peregrine stayed quiet, not wanting to give herself away.

With a laugh Caul walked around the Twins, sizing them up and seemingly trying to figure our their peculiarity to see if they were a threat. When he got behind them, he looked away from them and straight to Miss Peregrine. "Why do they wear these clothes?" He asked, pointing at the boys in front of him. Miss Peregine didn't answer, yet she silently hoped he made the mistake of unveiling their faces. Caul huffed and looked back down to he Twins who hadn't looked away from their headmistress despite Caul being behind them.

Caul crouched down behind the Twins, causing Miss Peregrine to subconsciously walk forward a bit. "What's their peculiarity? Is it rare?" Caul asked quietly, looking between the Twins. "Does it matter?" Miss Peregrine retorted. Caul looked at her briefly, but returned his attention to the boys. "Perhaps not," he decided.

As quick as a flash, Caul grabbed the Twins in his arms. He suddenly had one hand tightly around either Twins' throat, but not so tight they would choke. Miss Peregrine's eyes widened and the Twins both reached up to try and remove Caul's hands as they chittered anxiously. "Let go of them!" Miss Peregrine demanded, stepping closer. Caul mimicked her by taking his own step backwards, "I will not have some pesky orphans ruining my plans. Either you come with me or I kill them," he said. Miss Peregrine's breathing deepened and she briefly considered taking her knife out now, but she couldn't risk her children's safety.

She sighed and relented, "okay. I'll come with you, just don't hurt them."

"I knew you'd see sense, sister." Slowly, Caul let go of his leverage and lightly pushed them away, standing to his full height. "We can rule peculiardorm, sister. We'll be the most powerful peculiars to have ever lived." A tear escaped Miss Peregrine's eye because she didn't want that. She didn't want to be the most powerful peculiar or to even be anywhere near Caul, but if she wanted her children to stay safe, she had no choice.

As Miss Peregrine was walking over to Caul, footsteps from behind her caught her attention. She turned around in time to see three other people coming around the corner. To say she was relieved to see Enoch, Millard, and Jake coming around the corner would be an understatement. It was just the distraction she needed. If she could prolong what Caul wanted her for, she could think of some way to get out of the situation.

"What's going on?" Millard asked, going to stand next to Miss Peregrine. Caul moved from behind the Twins and stepped up in front of them. "My dear sister here has kindly agreed to rule peculiardorm with me," Caul explained, though it wasn't that simple. "What's he talking about?" Enoch questioned Miss Peregrine. "I've agreed to go with Caul if it means he'll leave you alone," Miss Peregrine said, not looking at the others for she knew it'd only hurt her gentle heart. "You can't leave us, Miss," Millard said, grabbing hold of her wrist. She tried to pull it away as it was the one that held her knife but Millard wouldn't let her.

"Now, if you don't mind, me and Miss Peregrine will be leaving now," Caul told them, striding up to Miss Peregrine and pulling her away by her other wrist. Millard's hand slipped away from her wrist, accidentally pulling the knife out of her sleeve and letting it clang to the floor. Caul stopped pulling her and looked to the once concealed weapon. Everyone else's eyes alternated between her and the knife, except Millard who must have already felt it. Caul laughed, "oh, I see. You thought you could trick me, sister." He shook his head and quickly reached down to pick it up. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of Caul holding the knife.

Caul stepped up to Miss Peregrine and before they knew it, he had her against his body with the knife at her throat. "Let her go!" Enoch yelled, followed by the Twins, who had gone to stand by the three other boys, chittering anxiously. Miss Peregrine herself tried to steady her breathing as Caul put pressure on her jugular. Her eyes fluttered closed as she took a deep breath and Caul talked to the boys.

"Now, I'll be leaving with my sister. She dies if any of you try to interfere," he stated, looking at the others for their reaction. Seeing they showed no signs of arguing as Miss Peregrine's life was on the line, he smirked and started backing up with his hostage.

Miss Peregrine suddenly opened her eyes and looked at her wards. Her eyes fell on the Twins and she took another deep breath, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do. "Twins?" She called out, making Caul stop when she spoke. They chittered, already knowing what she meant. She quickly closed her eyes and carefully turned her head to the side, mindful of the knife at her throat.

The Twins followed the unspoken order and lifted their masks, revealing their grey faces, sharp teeth, and eyes that looked like those of a snake. They said something in their own language that no one, not even Miss Peregrine, could understand, and Caul, who hadn't turned away in his moment of confusion, turned to stone before their eyes. His eyes, now stone, were wide with fear and anger.

Miss Peregrine opened her eyes when she was sure Caul was stone and the Twins had put their masks back down. The knife and Caul's hand was still at her throat and she shakily reached up to remove the knife from her brother's grip. She shuffled it out of his hand and threw it to the floor with a clang. There was one problem now- he still had hold of her arm. She frantically tried to pull her arm from his vice grip, but got nowhere. Seeing her struggle, her children came up to her and silently helped her wriggle her arm free from Caul's hand. She rubbed the sore spot and stepped away from Caul who predictably hadn't moved an inch as he was now a statue rather than a living being.

"Thank you," Miss Peregrine said quietly to the Twins, though she kept her eyes on Caul. The Twins said 'you're welcome' in their own special way and gave her a hug to comfort her. Miss Peregrine wrapped her arms around them in return, but soon pulled away. "I'd like a moment alone, please," she requested. The children shared looks. "Are you sure?" Enoch asked.

"Positive. He may have hurt me, but he was my brother and I'd like to say goodbye," Miss Peregrine replied with a small smile. The boys nodded and headed back to their respective bedrooms to let Miss P have a moment.

 **A/N: Gosh, this fic is almost finished. I'm glad Caul is finally dead. There wasn't an epic showdown between him and the peculiars, but he's finally gone, thankfully.**

 **I think this is the only multi-chapter fic that I've written that will actually get finished. I'm awful and completing stories because I write too many at once then forget about them.**


	10. Chapter Ten

**She Loved Her Brother**

Chapter Ten:

"Has anyone seen Miss P?" Bronwyn asked the others. They all shook their head, but Jake and Enoch shared a look after what happened last night. "What's wrong, Bronwyn?" Emma asked, looking up from the book she was reading. "Nothing, I was just wondering if we were going to see the town today," she said, gesturing towards the Welsh town they'd stopped at. "Well, Miss P did say she wanted to buy some more clothes and get some groceries, so I would think so," Emma replied thoughtfully, but now that it had been mentioned, she realised she hadn't seen or heard from Miss Peregrine since yesterday. Bronwyn nodded and sat down next to Emma, curious as to what she was reading.

Enoch grabbed Jake's sleeve and pulled him roughly over to a corner without the others. Millard, noticing this, headed over to them. "What's going on?" Millard questioned. Having been there last night, he had also noticed their headmistress' absence. Using his logic, though, he knew she couldn't be too far and just wanted alone time. "Where's Miss P? I noticed Caul's gone, too. What do you think she did with him?" Enoch asked, looking between Jake and Millard, worry noticeable in his voice. "Hopefully she tossed him in the sea and let him sink," Millard said bitterly, his hatred for Caul getting the better of him. Enoch smirked and Jake rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, he was her brother, no matter what he did to her," Jake said.

"Are you listening to yourself?" Enoch hissed, "'what he did to her'. She has every right to hate him, and if she _did_ toss him in the sea, then good on her."

"Toss who in the sea?" A voice asked. The three looked up and behind them to see the topic of their conversation- Miss Peregrine. She wore a dress they'd never seen her wear before, and they could only assume it was new. It was form fitting with long sleeves, and the skirt reached down to the floor. It had a 'V' neck that rested just above her cleavage. Unlike before, she had brushed her hair and it now flowed freely, the blue streak more noticeable as it blew with the wind.

"Miss P!" Millard exclaimed, "you look great!" He complimented. Miss Peregrine laughed, secretly touched. "Thank you, Millard, dear," she thanked, smiling. "Now, who were you talking about?" She asked, returning to her previous question.

"No one."

"Caul." Jake and Enoch said at the same time. They looked at each other, Jake frowning and Enoch glaring at the American. Miss Peregrine sighed, not only at Enoch's obvious dislike for Jake, but also at the topic. "You needn't worry about him anymore. But I can assure you, I didn't throw him in the sea," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice. The three nodded, trusting her. "I think it's time to go shopping, isn't it?" She asked, grinning.

"Yes!" Millard agreed, already running off to tell the others. Miss Peregrine gave Jake and Enoch a strange look that they couldn't quite place, before heading over to the other children.

oOoOoOo

Five hours later, the peculiar family had finished clothes and grocery shopping. They'd all returned to their ship and changed into new clothes whilst Miss Peregrine set the food in the cockpit. They'd avoided buying food that needed to be refrigerated as the ship didn't have anywhere to put it.

Now that the children had changed into fresh clothes, they decided they'd spend some time on the beach. It was a lovely beach, but the sand was mostly wet and the wind was cold, so they wore clothes suitable for the weather. Emma was afraid she would sink with her lead shoes, so the family stayed near the start of the beach to let Emma walk alongside them, but on the concrete path.

Emma's lead shoes made noises with each step she took, and Miss Peregrine found herself focusing on that rather than the hushed conversation she and Jake were having. With her improved hearing, it was sometimes hard to block out people's conversations (especially if they were nearby), but with a lot of practice, she mastered it.

The younger children, along with Enoch and Olive, were some ways up ahead, kicking the wet sand around and making a mess of their new outfits. Miss Peregrine couldn't find it in herself to care. After everything they'd been through recently, they deserved to be children again. Even if it meant kicking wet sand at each other on the beach at six pm.

"Can we, Miss P?" She heard. Turning her attention to Jake and Emma, she noticed the expectant looks. "I'm sorry, I fear I zoned out for a second," she apoligised, giving them a small smile. "It's okay. I was just asking if we could explore the town for a bit before we set off again," Emma repeated.

"Actually, I was thinking maybe we could live here. It's not that far from where we used to live and it's only a small town," Miss Peregrine trailed off, her eyes drifting back to the children that played up ahead. From the corner of her eye, she saw Emma and Jake share a look. "Are you sure, Miss? I mean, what about the normals?" Emma asked.

"Well, I'd start a new loop, that in itself would make things easier. And there's a nice little area up there," she pointed to the upper part of the town, "we could live up there." Emma and Jake looked towards where she'd pointed. "I guess it could be nice here," Jake reluctantly said. As someone who had grown up and lived in Florida all his life up until that point, the thought of living in Wales was odd to him. And in a loop, at that.

"I'm glad you agree," Miss Peregrine smiled. Signalling the end of the conversation, Miss Peregrine sped up and headed over to the other children. "That was... odd," Emma finally spoke after a few seconds of silence. "Yeah..." Jake slowly agreed, furrowing his brows.

oOoOoOo

Miss Peregrine walked through the small town in Wales, the full moon projecting a soft white light down upon her. Her barefeet, covered by her dress, padded softly on the grass as she made her way towards the cave at the edge of the beach.

When she reached it, she crouched down and placed the rusty lantern just outside the cave. The light from the lantern lit up the start of the cave, giving her a better view of inside.

She slowly made her way in, walking and walking until she'd almost reached the back of the small cavern. She stopped when she met with something. Something she'd put there the night before. With a shaky hand, she reached up and stroked it, running her hand across its features. Her bare feet were aching so she took a sat on the cave floor, focusing on that rather than the large thing in front of her.

Five minutes later, she finally looked back up. "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm terribly sorry this had to happen to you, Caul." She wiped a stray tear from her pale cheek. "My wards seemed to think I'd thrown you in the sea," she laughed, "but I could never do that to you. Despite what you may have said and done, you are my brother..." Miss Peregrine trailed off and turned to look at the cave ceiling.

"Do you remember," she started, "when we were younger and I first turned into a bird?" She turned to look at him again. "Of course you do," she laughed, "that's when you started to hate me, I think. I can never be sure because you always hurt me before that, but I think that's when you truly started to hate me."

"Sometimes I wonder why you wanted to be immortal. You hated living in Miss Avocet's loop. So why would you want to be become immortal?" Miss Peregrine sighed and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling once again. She chuckled, "remember the first event we went to? With mother and father before they kicked us out? It was a disaster. I think maybe if I had stayed away from you, the event would have gone splendidly and father wouldn't have been mad at us. I'm glad Miss Avocet came for us soon after that. I don't think I could have survived another day in that dreadful house."

With a glance outside the cave at the full moon, Miss Peregrine sighed and closed her eyes.


End file.
